Century Journal Insert

Charlotte Mason emphasized the importance of studying history with charts and tables in order to see an entire century at a glance. The Century Journal is our attempt at putting this Mason principle into a notebook insert. This is not intended to replace the Book of Centuries that Ms. Mason recommends, but rather a companion journal for some and a less intimidating starting place for others. When a date is mentioned, the student can easily jot down in the journal, then refer back to it for weekly entries in their Book of Centuries.

My kids have a hard time thinking of a Book of Centuries entry on demand. Now with the Century Journal they can look back at the many notes they've kept throughout the week and choose one of those to sketch in their larger Book of Centuries. For my form 1 and 2 students, this is all they are using for now!

In order to keep the notebook insert to a reasonable size, the first 6 millennia get a half page each, the first millennia BC gets a full page spread, and then each AD century gets a full page spread. Each page has horizontal lines for writing and very delicate vertical lines to mark the years. With the year listed in the margin, this makes it possible to find the block for an exact year.

While this notebook insert is intended to be a timeline in table format, sketches are also welcome.

A note about paper: At Juniper Grove, paper is important to us. We put thought and research into the quality of paper we use for our journals. For most of our inserts, we chose Richeson drawing paper. The light texture or "˜tooth' of this paper feels good under your pen, and is dense enough that your ink will not bleed through. For our Nature Journal, we chose an 88 pound Richeson water-color paper that really stands up to use without bleeding or wrinkling.

A note about the company: Juniper Grove Journals is a very small family business. Brad and Micah and their children Kate (13), Olivia (11), Maggie (10) and Jonah (7) all pitch in to make the journals from scratch. Micah designs and manufactures the journals, while Brad designs and prints the notebook inserts, and the kids bind the inserts at the kitchen table. (True story - The only rule is that everything has to be cleared away before dinner. =)